SopSmith Privacy Policy

Local capture, redaction, and guide generation.

Effective date: August 31, 2026

The short version: Your screenshots and everything you type are processed on your Mac and never leave it. SopSmith's developer does not receive, store, or see any of your data. The only thing that ever leaves your machine over the network is a small, non-secret text summary (button names and form-field labels) — and only if you connect an AI provider with your own API key.

What SopSmith does

SopSmith is a two-part tool for writing step-by-step guides: a Chrome extension that records your clicks, and a desktop app (macOS) that redacts sensitive information and produces a Markdown guide — all on your computer.

What stays on your machine (all of it, by default)

Screenshots — captured only while a recording session is active, stored locally, and redacted locally before any guide is produced.
Typed values — what you type into web pages is never extracted or stored. SopSmith records only that a field existed and had input, plus the field's visible label, so it can cover the field with a redaction box.
Redaction output — your exported Markdown guides and images are ordinary files in a folder you choose. No account, no cloud locker.
Your AI API key — stored in your macOS Keychain on your machine. It is never transmitted to us (we couldn't see it if we tried: there is no server to send it to).

What leaves your device, and when

By default: nothing leaves your device over the network. Screenshots are captured by the extension (inside your browser) only while a recording session is active, and are processed exclusively by the desktop app on your machine; they never reach the developer, any third party, or the network. Clicks, page titles, and the text of the elements you click are likewise recorded and processed only locally.

Optional AI guide writing. When enabled, SopSmith sends a small text summary — button names, form-field labels, page titles, and the number of steps — to the AI endpoint you choose and authenticate with your own API key (for example, OpenAI or your own on-premises model). That request goes directly from your Mac to the endpoint you selected. This is the only network transfer SopSmith can ever make, it is off until you configure it, and the developer operates no servers, sees no requests, and receives no data.

You can keep this off entirely: without an AI configuration, SopSmith still produces complete, redacted, screenshot-based guides.

What the developer collects

Nothing. SopSmith has no analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting, no accounts, and no server component. There is no account to create because there is no service to sign into.

Chrome permission disclosures

tabs / activeTab — read the URL and title of the tab you are recording; open the redaction editor and guide afterwards.
storage — keep session metadata on your device: step count, the labels and on-page positions of recorded buttons and form fields, per-site counts of clicks outside the recorded tab, and your preferences (save folder). Sensitive values are never stored — see "Typed values" above.
nativeMessaging — communicate with the SopSmith desktop app, which does the redaction locally.
Host access (all sites) — the recorder must be present on whatever page you work in. Reading runs only while a capture session is active; paused or stopped, nothing is read.

Data retention and deletion

All data lives in files you control. Uninstalling the app, deleting its data folder, or deleting the extension removes everything — there is nothing kept anywhere else, because nothing exists anywhere else.

Children's privacy

SopSmith does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children — it collects nothing from anyone.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted at this URL with an updated date. Material changes to the permission story will also be reflected in the Chrome Web Store listing.

Contact

Questions about this policy or SopSmith's behavior: privacy@sopsmith.app

SopSmith is local-first software: if it ever couldn't run without sending your data somewhere you didn't choose, that would be a change to this policy — and to everything this product stands for.